1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a shoulder strap for ladies' undergarments and more particularly to a shoulder strap for brassieres. The shoulder strap has a longitudinal middle portion whose width is enlarged as compared to the width of the shoulder strap portions extending from both ends of the middle portion.
2. Description of the Related Art
Shoulder straps of the above-identified type are known. Because of their elasticity, the shoulder straps can follow the movements of the body or the body parts of the wearer, so that the article of clothing supported by the shoulder strap exerts no tensile or compressive stresses or only slight tensile or compressive stresses onto the body of the wearer of the article of clothing. A shoulder strap of this type is placed over the shoulder of the person wearing the article of clothing, wherein the longitudinal middle portion of the shoulder strap rests on the shoulder and the two shoulder strap portions connected to the middle portion extend downwardly along the chest and back, respectively, of the wearer and are connected at their ends to the article of clothing.
A strap of this type is known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,100,924. This known strap is used for bags, ladies' undergarments, backpacks and the like. In this strap, the longitudinal middle portion has a width which is enlarged as compared to the width of the strap portions extending from both ends of the middle portion. When used as intended as a shoulder strap for undergarments, the enlarged portion of the shoulder strap is placed on the shoulder of the wearer and serves to transfer the weight over a large area of those parts of the shoulder which are by nature provided for this purpose, in order to prevent straining of nerve centers, blood vessels or sensitive cell areas of the skin.
The known shoulder strap described above is of very complicated construction. It includes strips of fabric sewn together at the edges thereof and having an enlarged middle portion, wherein this middle portion is provided with two pockets and extending diagonally of the axes of the strap. The pockets are formed by tucks and serve to accommodate flat support elements in the manner of corset stays which have the shape of a parallelogram. These supporting elements may be of various materials, such as, fishbone, plastic material or rubber-like materials. In addition, pads of foam material are placed under the inserts. Shoulder straps of this type unquestionably provide a high wearing comfort, particularly for carrying relatively heavy loads, i.e., when the shoulder strap is intended for use as a shoulder strap for backpacks, golf bags, bags for photographic equipment and the like. However, for ladies' undergarments and more particularly for brassieres, such a shoulder strap is much too complicated and too expensive and, for this reason, cannot be used in practice.